St. Joseph Institute for Addiction in Port Matilda, PA, treats substance use disorder (SUD) at the same time that we treat the entire individual and assess their general mental health. We know that treating addiction as an isolated issue misses the bigger picture, as many of our clients report struggling with generalized anxiety disorders, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
These disorders often trigger a cyclical pattern of negative thoughts that leaves people feeling like they’re trapped in their heads with their most unforgiving demons. This may increase the likelihood of abusing substances or developing SUD, which can then later require entering a residential treatment program. Essentially, what we hope our clients and their families will understand is that addressing rumination is a best practice in relapse prevention. Often, when people don’t address or manage excessive rumination, they can be pushed over the edge in recovery and into substance use.
Keep reading to learn about this negative thought cycle, referred to as rumination or repetitive negative thinking, and what you can do to combat it and support a loved one who may be experiencing it.
The Scoop on Rumination: When The Negative Thoughts Won’t Stop
Clinically speaking, rumination is a repetitive form of obsessive thinking that blocks other types of mental activity like problem-solving, intellectual stimulation, analysis, daydreaming, creative activities, and decision-making. Rumination can also involve replaying memories, conversations, or events over and over in your mind. People report the following about rumination:
- The thoughts feel intrusive and unwanted
- The thoughts revolve around their relationships, what they could have said or done in a situation, mistakes they’ve made, poor experiences, and specific conversations and interactions
- Rumination typically focuses on past events
- Thoughts are characterized by unending self-blame and self-criticism as well as an inability to accept the past
- Rumination feels like being trapped in a loop of negative thoughts, triggering emotions of helplessness that later reinforce the entire pattern
Overall, individuals describe rumination as having two main components: reflection and brooding. Reflection involves finding and focusing on negative thoughts. Brooding shifts into hyper fixation that cancels out any proactive thinking or planning that addresses or seeks to eliminate the loop.
Sustained rumination affects people in several ways. Emotionally, it can block your ability to process your feelings and push you toward unhealthy coping mechanisms and impulsivity.
Psychologically, it can deepen or prolong depression symptoms and increase anxiety and insomnia. In this sense, rumination can push your body to dangerous limits, causing chronic somatic stress, inflammation, and other stress-induced medical complications.
All of these scenarios might place people in the difficult situation of choosing substances in order to take a break from their thoughts.
Why Does The Anxious Brain Ruminate?
For the anxious, depressed, or obsessive-compulsive brain, the belief that ruminating can yield insight into life’s problems becomes a cornerstone of that type of cognitive activity.
At other times, the unresolved emotional and physical trauma that people suffer pushes them to focus on negative, cyclical thoughts.
For others still, dealing with continual stress and triggers within unhealthy, uncontrollable environments naturally lends itself to rumination.
Additionally, naturally anxious or higher-strung people geared toward perfectionism can struggle with rumination as a default, especially if they tend to be overly worried about their reputation or relationships with others.
How To Reduce Rumination and Reclaim Your Brain
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the best therapeutic approaches to get anxiety and rumination under control. There are also tricks and tips for coping with these intrusive, unproductive thought loops:
- Look for distractions in healthy activities like journaling, meditation, exercising, creating or consuming art or music, reading, cleaning, playing video games, etc.
- Enter into CBT or another form of therapy that works for you and practice deconstructing and journaling your specific negative loops.
- Find resources and activities that will help you build your self-esteem, making sure to identify and celebrate your strengths and achievements.
- Practice some form of deep breathing and stretching each day.
- Learn to identify and avoid rumination triggers when possible.
- Speak with trusted friends and family about rumination and ask them to help you redefine in your own terms what success and goals should look like from your perspective, not from the world’s perceived demands.
Beat Rumination in Port Matilda, PA, Today
You and your loved ones don’t have to be the victim of rumination any longer. We’re here to offer our community members support, education, and mental health services for an array of mental health disorders like addiction, depression, anxiety, and other mood-compromising illnesses that trigger rumination symptoms. If you or a loved one are searching for resources and an action plan to reclaim your brain, contact us today!
